94 THE JEWEL IN THE TOAD'S HEAD 



and refer to a large variety of animals. Probably many of 

 these beliefs date from prehistoric times. In the East the 

 most celebrated of these stones, since the period of Arabic 

 civilisation, is called a bezoar-stone. " Bezoar " is the 

 Persian word for " antidote," and does not apply only to a 

 stone. The true and original " bezoar-stone " of the East 

 is a concretion found in the intestine of the Persian wild 

 goat. Those which I have seen are usually of the size 

 and shape of a pigeon's egg and of a fine mahogany colour, 

 with a smooth, polished surface. The Persian goat's 

 bezoar-stone is found, on chemical analysis, to consist of 

 "ellagic acid," an acid allied to gallic acid, the vegetable 

 astringent product which occurs in oak-galls used until 

 lately in the manufacture of ink. The bezoar-stone is 

 probably a concretion formed in the intestine from some of 

 the undigested portions of the goat's food. Such concre- 

 tions are not uncommon, and occur even in man. "Bezoar- 

 stones " are obtained in the East from deer, antelopes, and 

 even monkeys, as well as goats, and must have a different 

 chemical nature in each case. Minute scrapings from 

 these stones are used in the East as medicine, and their 

 chemical qualities render their use not altogether absurd, 

 though they probably have not any really valuable action. 

 It is probable that their use had a later origin than that of 

 the "stones" connected with magic and witchcraft. Six- 

 teenth century writers, ever ready to invent a history when 

 their knowledge was defective, declared the bezoar-stone to 

 be formed by the inspissated tears of the deer or of the 

 gazelle the " gum " which Hamlet remarked in aged 

 examples of the human species. 



The substance called " ambergris " (grey amber), valued 

 to-day as a perfume, is a faecal concretion similar to a 

 bezoar-stone. It is formed in the intestine of the sperm- 

 whale, and contains fragments of the hard parts of cuttle- 

 fishes, which are the food of these whales. " Hair-balls " 



